Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a complainer.

1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 1 Dec. 6/2: ‘I’m no kicker [i.e against justice] and I’m perfectly willing to do what’s fair’ .
1888		Stag Party n.p.: ‘Aren’t there a good many kickers among travelers?’ ‘Plenty of them. I could have a fight every hour in the day if I wanted to talk back’ .

(orig. US) to perform rap music.

1991

Lord Finesse ‘Party Over Here’ 🎵 Return of the Funky Man [album] I’m better than Keith, I do more than make you sweat / Whenever I kick flavor on the tape cassette.

(US campus) to play or listen to music.

1999

Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 7: kick some raps – listen to or play music: ‘Yeah! I’ll be kickin’ some raps.’.

to ask someone for money, to borrow money.

1858

A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 254: Ned Purchase suggested that they might as well try and kick him for some coppers.

(US black) to explain a situation, to inform.

1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 154: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Droppin science. Kickin ballistics. Street knowledge.

to move fast.

2010

K. Richards Life 301: This boat could kick through. It had a big engine.

(US) to pay up, to come across with.

1917		J. Lait Gus the Bus 93: Kick t’rough with eighty-five cen’s.
1937		F.C. Painton ‘The Devil Must Pay’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 18/2: I’m broke. Come on – kick through.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 171: You’re going to kick through whether you like it or not.
1942		R.L. Bellem ‘Malibu Mess’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 What about the dough? You think Harlow will kick through?

(W.I.) cheap, second-rate masonry [orig. use as a water tank or cistern made of clay that has been kicked and bucked (pounded) until it is absolutely water-tight].

1943

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

a dancer; a buffoon.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(N.Z.) a phr. said of someone who has large feet.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(Aus.) to be very healthy.

c.1943

S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 10: kick the arse off an emu, able to: To be in fine fettle, to be ‘a ball of muscle’.

(orig. US) a phr. said of someone who possesses supreme competence.

1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1889) 67: He could kick the eye out of a mosquito, and bite too, if he got the chance.
1917		‘Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh’ After Many Days 276: The donkey could, and would, kick the eye out of a mosquito.
1920		G. Sargant Winding Track 165: Polly would kick the eye out of a mosquito, when you are leg-roping her; but everything went without a hitch this morning.

(N.Z.) used of a situation where everything one tries fails.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

see kick ass v.

see kick around v.

(Aus. prison) to succeed, to win an advantage.

1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 191: kicked a goal: gained something of advantage; something good has happened to a person.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Kick a goal. To succeed or win some advantage. A prisoner who has gained parole is said to have ‘kicked a goal’. Sometimes just kicked.

to beat comprehensively.

1825

Observer 30 Oct. 3: He [a wretsler] would kick Cann all to rags within five minutes.

(Aus.) to survive reasonably easily, to get along well.

c.1972		Parramatta Jail Gloss. 5: kick along with it, not going to appeal .
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Kick along with it. Accept the decision and make the best of it. Thus, ‘to kick along with one’s sentence’.

to criticize someone harshly, to attack someone verbally or physically.

1885		Outing 6 701: If there’s anybody here don’t like the grub, I’ll kick a lung out of him!
1889		Texas Criminal Reports 26 553: McDougald [...] said to defendant, ‘Don’t shove me, you son of a bitch, don’t shove me, or I'll kick a lung out of you’.
1898		T.H. Rogers Nehalem 21: You just hike it out of here, and if I catch you round this part of the ranch again today, I’ll kick a lung out of you!
1906		Judge’s Library 202-13 n.p.: ‘If he tries to bite us,’ said his older brother, who is learning the great American language in slang, ‘we’ll just kick a lung out of him’.
1906		Watson’s Mag. 6 95: Fan liked to kick a lung out o’ me ’fore she recol lected who was holdin’ the ribbons.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 162/2: Kick a lung out (Anglo-Amer. ). Severe castigation.
1912		W. Gillette Too Much Johnson 51: Look here? If you mention his name again I’ll kick a lung out of you!
1926		Adventure Mag. 46 137: ‘I got a good mind to kick a lung out o’ you!" Poots had reached his limit in this matter of lung-kicking. It was coming too often.
1930		P. Wylie Gladiator 239: Somebody’s got to show you your place around here and I think I’ll just kick a lung out right now.
1945		I.R. Sues Shark’s Fins & Millet 149: Mind you, if you ever make publicity round my name, I’ll kick a lung out of you.
2001		B.W. Rook Junction [ebook] Elder Haywood gets right up in his face and says if he ever catches him in an inappropriate relationship with one of our Sister missionaries again he was going to kick a lung out of him!
2011		Jen Lancaster If You Were Here [ebook] I’d probably want to kick a lung out of myself.

see kick ass v.

see separate entries.

to suffer execution by hanging.

1724

‘Frisky Moll’s Song’ in J. Thurmond Harlequin Sheppard 22: From Priggs that snaffle the Prancers strong, / To you of the Peter Lay, / I pray now listen a while to my song, / How my Boman he h[k?]ick’d away.

(Aus./US) to let off steam, to get rid of tension.

1902

E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 8: Den he asks Mr. Paul, and Mr. Paul says he has to go kick a yellow dog.

see separate entries.

see kick ass v.

(W.I.) to make a fuss, to cause a commotion.

1975

cited in Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996).

see kick ass v.

(Aus.) to throw away.

1933

C. Drew ‘Sledgehammer Joe’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 19 July 49/1: ‘Be reasonable. Is forty quid going to be kicked downstairs for the sake of a couple of cracks?’.

see separate entry.

(N.Z.) to back down, to avoid confrontation.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(Scot.) to assault severely.

2019

A. Parks February’s Son 310: McCoy had just kicked fuck out of his client right in front of him.

(N.Z.) to kick in the testicles, occas. buttocks.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

see separate entries.

see kick-ass adj.

1. to treat harshly.

1922		Mencken letter 12 June in Riggio Dreiser-Mencken Letters II (1986) 476: It would be a bit thick to kick him in the pants.
1931		P.J. Wolfson Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘That’s just like you: kick somebody in the pants and then come around and ask a favor’.
1945		T. Harris Escape from the Legion 75: I won’t be the last one to kick them [i.e. ‘the Boches’] in the pants, and I know others, many of them, who feel the same .

2. to propel someone into action.

1989

H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 27: To kick [someone] in the pants is to propel that someone into action.

to kick hard, lit. or fig.

1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 127: He could have kicked himself in the tail all the way around the block for it.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 246: He was going to kick your tails around the block to hell and gone.

to release, to make available, to let go.

1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 139: We jerked our guns and Abie kicked loose with the dough.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 115/2: Kick loose. To give up or hand over a sum of money or quantity of collateral, as the victim of a swindle or robbery; to be robbed or cheated.
1951		C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 310: ‘He said that if we wanted to continue prosperous,’ [...] ‘we’d have to kick loose from some juice’.
1977		B. Jackson Killing Time 223: They started kicking people loose because they didn’t have any accommodations for them.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 192: Don’t worry. He’ll kick loose.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 222: The Sidster might fold, kick loose with his file.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 310: The caddy master kicked loose his address.
2012		T.P. McCauley ‘Lady Madeline’s Dive’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] If the little son of a bitch had kicked loose with the information earlier [etc].
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 109: ‘[S]he’ll make a phone call, and you’ll be kicked loose’.

to work as a street prostitute.

1961		C. Cooper Jr Weed (1998) 220: I been kickin mud for five years.
a.1963		‘The Fall’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 85: There ain’t a bitch in the Game with your kind of name / For kicking the mud you kick.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 75: I decided to let her kick street mud on Sixty-third.

see separate entry.

1. (US Und./police) to raid an establishment or place.

1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 230: Kick Over—To put out of business; to raid and demolish an illegal or suspected establishment.
1946		E. Wilson Pikes Peek or Bust 186: ‘Jacksonville sure was a blank [...] All the flat joints were kicked over, and the girl show was sloughed twice’ .

2. to rob.

1930		Amer. Mercury Dec. 456: Kick over; v.: To rob. ‘We kick over the spot for five yards.’ [HDAS].
1936		San Quentin Bulletin in L.A. Times 6 May 7: KICK OVER, to rob.

3. to undermine, to overthrow.

1975

E. Torres Carlito’s Way 81: You gonna kick over the man by shooting a few cops in the head? You crazy, that’s what.

(US prison) to go away.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Kick Rocks: Go away or leave alone.

see kick brass

to reject, to dismiss, to throw away.

1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 116: He spent half the night telling me dead-cert ways of kicking Keith O’Rourke into touch.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 135: Ah admired yir excellent taste in kicking that fat bastard intae touch just now.

(W.I.) to be unemployed.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

to experience an intense emotion; to reach orgasm.

1922

Joyce Ulysses 357: But lots of them can’t kick the beam, I think. Keep that thing up for hours.

to vent one’s frustrations.

1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 162/2: Kicked the cat (L. Class). Shown signs of domestic dissatisfaction.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 102: He was just preparing to touch the bell-push again, this time a little more forcefully to show how annoyed he was — kicking the cat, so to speak.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 239: You’re the only one who’s kicking the cat, Kerry.

to be hanged; often ext. as ...before the hotel door; thus cloud-kicker, the victim of a hangng or lynching.

1598		in Florio Worlde of Wordes n.p.: Dar de’ calci a Rouaio.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: To kick the clouds before the hotel door; i.e. to be hanged.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1811].
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 21 Jan. 2/2: When Judge Lynch swings a desperado off now they say that he has been ‘elected an eternal cloud kicker’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1936		L. Pound ‘Amer. Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 200: Kick the clouds/air/wind.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 138: kick the air To be hanged.

see beat the (living) daylight(s) out of under daylights n.

(Aus.) to beat up.

1914

Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Dec. 14/1: Every three inches or so he would stop, whereupon the soldier in charge would sail in and kick the dust out of him.

see under gong n.²

see under beat the pee out of under pee n.¹

(US Und.) to work as a street prostitute.

1967

in S. Harris Hellhole 92: I stopped being a call girl and begun kicking the street. [Ibid.] 95: I would have to start kicking because I wasn’t a good call girl any more now.

1. (US black) to reject someone, esp. to bring a relationship to an end; to dismiss from a job.

1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 166: That’s why I kicked my baby’s father to the curb.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 40: All it took was one femme assistant to [...] report one of Chad’s actual dirty jokes, salacious looks, or untoward moves for Chad to get kicked to the Wilshire curb.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 68: A bitch give me any static [...] tries to dis me in any way, I just kick her to the fucking curb.
2009		N. Flexner Disassembled Man [ebook] After I got hurt he could have kicked me to the curb.
2012		J. Clifford ‘Occupy Opportunity’ in C. Rhatigan and N. Bird (eds) Pulp Ink 2 [ebook] School has cutbacks. lays her off [...] Bank kicked her to the curb.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 29: People in Team God don’t fling their kids to the kerb.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare i: I’ve been kicked to the kerb after more than a decade at Network Ten for committing a crime against television: spitting out sprogs.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘Your only FBI contact — that little blonde heifer — done been kicked to the curb’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 490: Kicked to the kerb by our codswallop Establishment.
2023		J. Jackson Pineapple Street 87: ‘If I were so smart, I wouldn’t have missed Poppy and Hatcher’s childhood to make money for a bank that kicked me to the curb’.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 155: Kind of crime that if done to a civilian would mean jail-time, but the army just kicked him to the kerb.

2. to reject an idea or object, to stop doing something.

1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 60/2: kick that to the curb – v. to stop doing something.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 434: That’s some rugged shit. Forget it. Kick that to the kerb.

3. (US) to attack physically.

2021

T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 51: ‘I catch you spitting [...] I’ll kick you to the curb myself’.

(US black) to associate with; to be part of a gang.

1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 64: I started kickin’ with my homies when I was about six years old.
1993		(con. 1978) K. Scott Monster (1994) 14: I asked him if he wanted to kick it with us.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Playa (player/playette) (noun) [...] 3. Male or Female that kicks wit someone else even while goin’ wit someone.